Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Initial Findings on the Use of Digital
Resources in Humanities and Social Science
(H/SS) Undergraduate Education
Diane Harley, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Alison J. Head, Ph.D, Jonathan Henke, MIMS
Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), UC Berkeley
Project website: http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu
Syllabus 2004 | July 19, 2004
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Acknowledgments
-
Ian Miller, David Nasatir, Ph.D, Xi Sheng, Jing Guo
UCB Professors Charles Faulhaber, Lewis Lancaster,
Rick Rhinehart, and Ruzena Bajcsy;
Daniel Greenstein, Laine Farley, Roy Tennant, and
Rosalie Lack, the California Digital Library (CDL);
Merilee Proffitt, Arnold Arcolio, and Guther Waibel,
Research Libraries Group (RLG);
Elizabeth Losh, UCI; Glen Worthey, Stanford
University; Flora McMartin, MERLOT; Barbara
Sommers, UCD; Richard Flacks, UCSB; Julie Gordon
and Paula Murphy, UCOP; Michael Hardie and Mara
Hancock, Educational Technology Services, UCB;
Maryly Snow, Susan Stone, SPIRO, UCB; Pat
Maughan, UCB Library.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Purpose
Scan and define the whole universe of digital
resources available to undergraduate
educators in the humanities and social
sciences (H/SS), and examine how
understanding use/users can benefit the
integration of those resources into
undergraduate teaching.
Determine, by employing empirical data, how
and if available resources are being used in
undergraduate teaching.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Research Project Overview
Two-year project (2003 – 2005)
Funding: Mellon and Hewlett Foundations;
CDL; CITRIS; VCR, UCB
Goals:
– Describe and map the universe of digital resources,
uses, and users in the H/SS.
– Determine how digital resources are currently used in
H/SS undergraduate education.
– Determine how (or if) an understanding of use and
users can help the integration of resources into the
classroom.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Why Bother?
• Strategic Planning and Investments
-Who pays for digital resource production/maintenance?
-What digital resources are worth investing in?
• Focus on the Humanities and Social Sciences
-Different than science and technical courses
-Role of technology in the delivery of general/liberal arts
education
• Consolidation of Effective Strategies for
Understanding Use and Users
-What is the value of use studies for the user? What do we
know now?
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Current Research Activities
• Ongoing discussion with faculty, librarians,
educational technology professionals, and
resource/site owners.
• Faculty survey:
– Sampling opinions about digital resource use among
various disciplines and institutions (N=4500).
• Testing methods of traffic log analysis (TLA) and
online user surveys on local sites.
• Consolidating knowledge about users, and
convening site owners, funders, and use
researchers.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Associated Research Challenges
How can digital resources be defined?
– Agreeing on a working definition from different
perspectives.
• Objects that employ rich media and span text, images,
sound, maps, video, and many other formats.
• Sources include collections developed by large
institutional entities (e.g., libraries and museums),
those developed by individual scholars, and
everything in between.
• Particularly interested in free,unrestricted content,
but considering any resource faculty say they use,
regardless of whether it is restricted or not.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Types of Digital Resources
Images or visual materials (drawings, photographs, art, posters,
etc.), Maps, simulations or animations, Digital film or
video, Audio materials (speeches, interviews, music, oral
histories, etc.), Digital facsimiles of ancient or historical
manuscripts, Online or digitized documents (including
translations), Government documents, Data archives
(numeric databases; e.g., census data), News or other media
sources and archives, Online reference resources
(e.g., dictionaries), “Portals that provide links or URL’s
relevant to particular disciplinary topics, Personal online
diaries (e.g., weblogs), Online class discussions (including
archived discussions), Curricular materials and websites
that are created by other faculty and/or other institutions
(e.g., MIT OpenCourseWare, World Lecture Hall, Merlot),
Digital readers or coursepacks, Interactive Media (e.g., VR,
Games), Tutorials, Other types of resources
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Associated Research Challenges
• How can plethora of digital resources be
classified?
• What is a user? What is an owner?
– Scholars to school kids; Chinese literature to
archaeology, luddite to technophile…
– Aggregators, tool developers, content creators
– Every user an owner/creator and every creator/owner a
user?
• How can existing user research be consolidated?
– User studies as diverse as the resources themselves.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Ask Faculty: Survey
• Survey design and implementation:
– Random stratified sample of Calif.
Community colleges, liberal arts colleges and
UC; range of H/SS disciplines
– Challenges: IRB, tracking respondents
– Online survey: Pros and cons
– Response rates
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Survey Instrument
Discussion Groups
• Four major questions:
– What digital resources do you use in
undergraduate teaching?
– How do you use them?
– What obstacles do you encounter?
– In a perfect world, what would you do with
digital resources?
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Preliminary Findings: Faculty Discussion Groups
A Complex Universe
• Digital collections vary in type, purpose, and
perceived value.
– Dizzying range of objects used, including personal
collections. Free and commercial resources.
– Used for wide range of educational “purposes” and
goals
• Variation in faculty enthusiasm and involvement.
– A semblance of non, light, heavy, and fundamental
users. Some actively negative/luddites
• Different disciplines/institutions, different needs?
• Wide range of obstacles to using resources —
cultural, economic, as well as technical.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Preliminary Findings: Faculty Survey
Testing Early Impressions with Survey
Common Types of Digital Resources Used
- Images or visual materials (drawings,
photographs, art, posters, etc.)
- “Portals” that provide links or URL’s
relevant to particular disciplinary topics
- News or other media sources and
archives
- Online journals (e.g., JSTOR)
- Online reference resources
(e.g., dictionaries)
- Digital film or video
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Testing Early Impressions
Sources of Digital Resources
- Search engines/directories (e.g., Google,
Yahoo)
- My own personal collection of digital
materials
- Public (free) online image databases
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Testing Early Impressions
How Are Resources Used in Teaching?
- Presented during my lectures/class
(e.g., images, audio, etc.)
- Assigned to students for review and/or
study
- Assigned for student research projects or
problem-based learning assignments
- Posted directly on my course website
- Linked from my course website
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Testing Early Impressions
Motivations for Using
- To integrate primary source material into the
course
- Because it improves my students’ learning
- To provide students a context for a topic
- To get students excited about a topic
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Preliminary Findings: Faculty Survey
Testing Early Impressions
Barriers & Frustrations
-
I don’t have reliable access to physical resources in
my classroom (e.g., projectors, high-speed
connections, etc.).
The digital resources are distributed in so many
places that it is difficult for me to organize them for
use in my teaching.
There are too many resources out there for me to take
advantage of — I am overwhelmed.
I don’t have time to assess the credibility of the
available resources.
The content I need or want is just not available online.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Testing Early Impressions
Activities for Which Support or Assistance is
Important
- Obtaining or setting up technical
infrastructure (servers, computers, smart
classrooms, etc.)
- Creating my own website
- Digitizing existing resources
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Testing Early Impressions
Most used Sources for Support
- Campus educational technology or IT
support staff
- My departmental or college staff
- Campus librarians
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
User Profiling
• Developing generalized user and non-user types
• Data sources and methods:
– Discussion groups and faculty survey.
– Run frequencies for specific categories of interest.
• Descriptive categories:
– Demographic variables (including age, institution).
– Work-related variables (including discipline).
– Use variables (degree of use, sources, teaching uses,
motivations, barriers, and support).
• Personas:
– Hypothetical archetype of a specific user.
– Behavioral patterns with goals, not job descriptions.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Next Steps
• Data analysis and faculty survey:
– Disaggregate responses by
institution/discipline
– Explore development and utility of user
profiles
• Classification and analysis of different types of
resources/engage resource owners.
• Future meetings with key stakeholders.
© 2004, Digital Resource Study| Diane Harley, Ph,D. | http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu| 7.19.04
Digital Resource Study | UC Berkeley | Syllabus 2004
Initial Findings on Use of Digital Resources in Humanities
and Social Science Undergraduate Education
Diane Harley, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Alison Head, Ph.D., Jonathan Henke, MIMS
Center for Studies in Higher Education(CSHE), UC Berkeley
Project website: http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu
Syllabus 2004 | July 19, 2004